Alberti takes down Baker at Fort Rupert Curling Club’s Mixed Bonspiel

Tom Baker and his Port McNeill crew once again came so close to winning the Fort Rupert Curling Club’s Mixed Bonspiel.

Baker and his team have been a regular fixture at the tournament over the years, almost winning it back in 2017 against Colin Hunko, and they definitely had some tough competition to make it to A-Final again this year.

The Baker Rink had a first round match against the Zealand Rink on Friday night, before a semi-final against the Neff Rink on Saturday afternoon.

After winning both matches, they then found themselves in a thrilling showdown on Sunday against the Courtenay based Alberti Rink.

While Baker managed to skip his team to an early 2-0 lead, the Alberti Rink came roaring back over the next seven ends, ultimately stealing the win 8-2.

After the match, Silvio Alberti said it felt awesome to win the tournament. “It was the first time as a group we’ve ever won an A-Final. We’ve been curling together for ten years now, so it’s pretty special.”

He noted they’ve played in Port Hardy about “Three or four times, and we just love it here — the people are so awesome and it’s a younger crowd and they’re really upbeat — it’s a lot of fun.”

Fort Rupert Curling Club President Adam Ireton said the weekend bonspiel was “really good — we had 12 teams this year, one from Courtenay, one from Campbell River and two from McNeill, so it was a really good turnout.”

There was a roaring 20s/murder mystery themed party held on Saturday night at the club, and Ireton wanted to say a big thank you to Angie Clance for putting on the Saturday night dinner and running the concession all weekend.